Field of the Invention
The field includes scale-up manufacturing of roll-to-roll superhydrophobic surfaces and a manufacturing technique to deposit metals in a roll-to-roll platform on shrink film to achieve superhydrophobic features and emboss the features into commercial products.
Description of the Related Art
Superhydrophobicity can benefit many technical fields. Self-cleaning properties can help prevent the spread of disease for health applications. Low adhesion on a superhydrophobic surface can prevent bacterial growth and fouling. Superhydrophobic surfaces have a slip boundary and reduce drag, thus making them potential agents to coat boats or for use in fluid transport. Satellite dishes, solar cells, photovoltaics, heating and cooling systems, and windshields can benefit from superhydrophobic devices to improve efficiency.
Some superhydrophobic chemicals are on the market, such as NeverWet and Aculon. Some companies combine chemical (fluorocarbons) and structural modification to achieve superhydrophobicity. Sharklets mimics the structure of shark skin to achieve surfaces that prevent bacterial adhesion. Some research companies fabricate superhydrophobic features using micro and nanolithography.
Chemicals wear off and lose their hydrophobicity over time. Chemicals can also leach into their environment and become hazardous. The chemicals also adhere better to certain surfaces than others, preventing them from being used universally. Products using chemicals often must pass FDA approval before being used as a commercial product. Some structures that prevent bacterial adhesion (such as Sharklets) are not superhydrophobic and do not have all the benefits of superhydrophobic surfaces. Fabricating a purely structural superhydrophobic master can be complex and require photolithography, nanolithography, electrospinning, etching, gels, colloids, oxidizers, carbon nanotubes, self-assembly, etc.